Samson looked back to see April standing by the entrance of the bar as she scanned the seats looking for him. He could see what Johnny meant. She was wearing a perfectly-fitted emerald green drape dress, with the wrap gathered at the left side of her waist, emphasizing how petite she really was. It accentuated her body perfectly. But what really had Samson staring was her hair. It wasn’t pinned back in a librarian bun, or halfway up, or in pigtails. Her golden curls spilled down over her shoulders just as they had in his wildest fantasies.
“Over here, darling!” Ethan called. Johnny laughed as Samson gave them a stern look.
“Well, I suppose she could keep us company!” Johnny said.
“That is my employee,” Samson told them, warning laced through every word. If he wasn’t allowed to misbehave, they had better not.
Johnny and Ethan shared a glance and smiled as she came over. She walked slowly, and Samson realized that she was wearing heels rather than pumps. Lord, he would need strength to get through the night. He downed his scotch and made space for her at the table.
“How did we get so lucky!” Ethan was up to greet her before Samson had the chance to speak, but Ethan’s energy had seemed to put April at ease. She smiled warmly and introduced herself to both of them before sitting next to Samson.
“Is your business located here in Chicago?” April asked.
“Oh, no. We were just visiting the States and thought we could use some face time with our mate Sammy here,” Johnny said.
April’s eyes widened, and a wide smile crept across her face as she looked at Samson. “Sammy?”
“I am your boss.” Samson pointed at her. “You are not to call me that.”
“Aww, be a good sport!” Ethan said.
“I don’t need to.” April shrugged. “It just brightens my day to know that someone is out there calling you that.”
Samson sighed, irritated, but April seemed to be enjoying herself, so he let it pass. Ethan handed a martini to her, and soon the conversation sparked to life once again. At first, his two friends were determined to tell April their best stories involving Samson back in boarding school. However, April proved more skillful than Samson about redirecting the conversation back to business, and drew them into bragging about their shops and their vision for the company as a whole.
When she plucked a pen out of her purse and started doodling on a napkin, Samson was so proud he wanted to grab her into a hug… or maybe that was the scotch. She was holding her own, but he was beginning to wish that he hadn’t started drinking before she arrived.
Ethan pushed himself up abruptly and declared that he was going to go to their room and fetch his laptop. A moment later, Johnny laughed, said his partner had forgotten the keycard, and excused himself.
“You’re more useful tonight than I’d imagined,” Samson told her.
“They’re a handful. Maybe I should’ve encouraged them to tell me more embarrassing stories about your time as ‘schoolmates.’” April brushed her hair back, but the curls fell forward again.
“What do you think? Can we bring their disparate ideas together?”
“I think they’re going to need to cut a few things loose. But, you know. The problem is really that they jumped in without a business plan and put the capital in front of their strategy.” April swirled the olive in her drink. “If you really want to do this with them, you should devote a real meeting to it. With a real conference room, and a full team. I can help them with some design elements, but I’m no PR genius.”
“I am.”
“And modest,” she drawled, but with a smile.
Samson leaned his cheek on his fist. “Modesty has never been one of my strengths.”
“Admitting to a weakness? Your own ego?” April pulled the olive off with her teeth.
“I am human after all.”
“No? Not some towering god?”
“Don’t you mean ‘looming’?”
April sipped her martini. “Maybe. Be honest: you loom on purpose sometimes.”
“Oh, that’s absolutely true.”
April covered her mouth and shook hard with laughter. It hadn’t been that funny.
“How many of those have you had?”
“A few… and I may have made myself a Jack and Coke from the minibar.”
“Lord.” Samson moved April’s martini glass to the far side of the table.
“Nooo! We were having such a good time!”
“I would like you to continue to have a good time.”
“Oh, I would too!” April winked.
Samson pushed some water in front of her. “Enjoy this.”
April pouted, but drank the water. Samson wished she had been able to relax just by getting more comfortable with him, but things always changed after you got drunk with someone for the first time.